how to be a dj

TEAM LinG - Live, Informative, Non-cost and Genuine !
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Dedication
This book is dedicated to:
DJ Richie Huber for teaching me the ropes
DJ Suzy Fresh for reminding me there is more to life than just being a DJ
DJ Joseph Montalvo for his eternal optimism and dedication
DJ Kokopeli Dan for showing me that Karaoke is sort of fun
DJ Post Modern Pam for her lifelong friendship and explaining how radio really works
Pat Jr., Bobby, and the boys at Pat’s Music in Philly for putting up with all my stupid questions over the years

And Rockin’ Ron Capps, Jammin’ Julie Grove, Tony “White Lightning” Deremer, Ronny Fresh, Robby Fresh, Def
Masta Homey Fresh (Chris Bennett), Stew Shocka, Digital DJ Louie, Eddie Jordan, Lisa G, Mike Staff, Bob Palio,
“Spring Water”, and all the thousands of customers, managers, and DJs I’ve worked with over the years for their
support and for making it fun.
About the Author
Chuck Fresh
has 20 years’ experience as a private party, nightclub and bar, and radio DJ and currently works as a
nightclub consultant. Fresh has been featured in numerous DJ and nightclub magazines, including
Nightclub and
Bar Magazine
, and he is the author of
Make Some Noise
,
Wild Party Contests
, and
A DJ’s Guide to Latin Music
.
Fresh now resides in Melbourne, Florida, and is a nationally recognized voiceover talent. He also runs Bar
Marketing, LLC and The DJ Resource, providing party games and promotional services to nightclubs, bars, and DJs
all over the world.
TEAM LinG - Live, Informative, Non-cost and Genuine !
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TEAM LinG - Live, Informative, Non-cost and Genuine !
Contents at a Glance
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv
Chapter 1
Becoming a Radio DJ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Chapter 2
Becoming a Nightclub or Bar DJ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Chapter 3

Becoming a Mobile DJ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Chapter 4
Mobile and Club DJ Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Chapter 5
All About The Music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Chapter 6
Performance DJs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
Chapter 7
The MC. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
Chapter 8
DJ Resources. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
Chapter 9
The Digital Domain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
Chapter 10
Planning for the Future . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295
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TEAM LinG - Live, Informative, Non-cost and Genuine !
Contents
1 Becoming a Radio DJ 1
What’s Involved . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
The Challenges of Radio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Skills Needed. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
The Ratings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Types of Radio Jobs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Music DJs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Talk Show DJs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Sports Announcers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Sports Reporters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Traffic Reporters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Newscasters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
News Reporters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Other Radio Jobs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Talking the Talk: Radio Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
How to Begin Your Career as a Radio DJ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
College Internships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Other Ways to Gain On-Air Experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Your “Demo” Tape. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Music Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
FCC Obscenity/Indecency Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Marketing Yourself . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Job Outlook. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Real-World Experiences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Mike Staff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Lisa G. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Dave Mann . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Jon “Rock ‘n’ Roll” Anthony. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Denise Kelly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Mel “Toxic” Taylor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Michael Lowe. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
2 Becoming a Nightclub or Bar DJ 29
Getting My Start . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Coming Up in Philly. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Going Euro in Jersey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Working in Atlantis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Minding My Own Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
TEAM LinG - Live, Informative, Non-cost and Genuine !
Working as a Club DJ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Entertainment Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Bands vs DJs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Your DJ Name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Preparing to Play Live . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Performing at Free-Standing Clubs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Performing in Hotel Clubs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Performing in Smaller Bars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Performing in Adult Clubs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Performing in After Hours Clubs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Typical Club and Bar Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Turntables and CD Players . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Mixers, Headphones, Speakers, and Amps. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Lights and Special Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Using Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Bar Games and Special Promotions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
The Law. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
The Five-Step Plan for Successful Promotions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Effectively Marketing Yourself . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Adding Credibility to Your Show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Cover Letter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
The Contract . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
3 Becoming a Mobile DJ 77
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Performing at Wedding Receptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
The Ceremony. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Cocktail Hour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Wedding Introductions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
The Bride and Groom’s First Dance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
The Blessing or Benediction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
The Toast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Dinner Hour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Parent Dances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Wedding Party Dance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Party Time! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Additional Dances and Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Fun Wedding Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Performing at Anniversary Parties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Performing at Class Reunions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Performing at Proms and School Dances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Performing at Company Picnics, Fundraisers, and Other Corporate Affairs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
viii
TEAM LinG - Live, Informative, Non-cost and Genuine !
Performing at Bar and Bat Mitzvahs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Cocktail Hour. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Grand Entrance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
The Blessing of the Bread (“Motzi”) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Chowtime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Dancing and Games . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
The Hora . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
The Candlelighting Ceremony. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
More Dancing and Stuff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
The Grand Finale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Performing at Sweet 16s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Cocktail Hour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Grand Entrance or Introductions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Special Dances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
The Toast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Candlelighting Ceremony . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Performing at Other Mobile Parties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Preparation for a Mobile Job . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Mobile Advertising, Marketing,and Imaging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

Telephone Coverage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Credit Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Contracts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Referrals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Your Sales Kit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Drumming Up Sales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Advertising . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Super-Secret Marketing Tricks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Contracts and Forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Wedding Information Sheet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Equipment Checklist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Sample Contract . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
4 Mobile and Club DJ Equipment 125
Introduction to Sound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
The Basic Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Turntables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Belt Drive vs. Direct Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Technics 1200s. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Turntable Cartridges and How They Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Tone Arms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Slipmats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Hooking Up Your Turntable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
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CD Players . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
The Dual CD Deck. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Tabletop CD Players. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
The Skippies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Microphones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Types of Mics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

Wireless Mics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Using a Microphone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Mixers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Battle Style Mixers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Multi-channel DJ Mixers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Hooking Up Your Mixer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Amplifiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Choosing Your Weapon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Hooking Up Your Amplifier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
Speakers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Headphones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Equalizers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
Hooking Everything Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
The Cables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Crossovers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Packages or Starter Kits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Used Equipment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Maintenance Anyone Can Do . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Emergency Kits and Backup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
5 All About The Music 167
It’s All About Your Audience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
Club Mixes, Remixes, and Radio Versions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Does The Music Matter? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Building a Collection from Scratch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
CDs vs. Vinyl vs. MP3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
Full CDs vs. CD Singles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
Cocktail Music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
Slow Jams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
House and Techno Music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Trance/Progressive House . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178

Freestyle or Club Music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
Disco . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
Hip Hop and Rap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
Alternative or Modern Rock. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
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Dance Rock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
Oldies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
Top Country . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
Latin Music Explosion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
Maintaining Your Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
Record Pools and Promotional Services. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
Legal Music Download Websites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
Master Programming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Dance Music vs. Listening Music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
Sad Music vs Happy Music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
Reading a Room. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
Rotating the Dance Floor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
Developing Effective Music Programming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
Handling Requests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
Strange Requests and Other Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
Breaking New Music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
6 Performance DJs 205
The Basics of Beatmixing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
Basic Dance Music Theory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
Beats Per Minute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
Basic Beatmixing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
The Right Place at the Right Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
You Can Do It In The Mix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
Slamming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215

Sample Slamming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
Beatmixing No-Nos. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
Advanced DJ Performance Mix Tricks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
Scratching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
Preparing to Scratch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
Scratching Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
The Art of Remixing and Edits. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
Remixing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
Edits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
Producing Electronic Music. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
Dance Music Structure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
Synthesizers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
Music Making Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
The Flow of Your Show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
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7 The MC 229
What Makes a Great MC? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
One Part Comedian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
One Part Politician . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
Ninety Eight Parts Entertainer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
MC Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
Voice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
Image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
Presence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
Making a Name for Yourself . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
Value Added . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
Promoting New Talent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
Spotting New Trends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239

Group Dynamics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
Lights, or Lack Thereof . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
Silence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
Strangeness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
Unexpected Downshift. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
Getting a Little Free Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
Contests and Promotions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
Kids’ Games . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
Teen Games . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
Games for All Ages. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
Good Prizes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
Drinking on the Job? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
8 DJ Resources 251
DJ Websites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
Pro DJ Web Sites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252
DJ Magazines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
Mobile Beat Magazine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
DJ Times Magazine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
DJ Mag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
Nightclub and Bar Magazine. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
DJ Conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254
DJ Associations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
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9 The Digital Domain 259
Going Digital. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
Ripping and Encoding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
Burning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
Digital Storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
Sampling and Formats. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265

WAV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
AIFF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
MP3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
MP3Pro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
Windows WMA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
Apple AAC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
Real Audio. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
Ogg Vorbis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
Digital DJ Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
Sound Cards and Latency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
Consumer Digital Music Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
Professional Live DJ Software. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
Digital DJ Hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
Numark DMC-1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
Visiosonic’s PCDJ FX and DAC-2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280
BPM Studio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280
PVDJ’s DAI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
EKS XP10. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
Hercules DJ Controller. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282
Stanton Final Scratch. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282
Rane Serato Scratch Live . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
Complete Digital DJ Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284
DJ RAK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
DJ Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286
Portable MP3 Players . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286
Apple iPod. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286
Creative Labs Nomad and MuVo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286
Other Portables. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286
Loop-Based Software. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287
Sony Studios Acid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287

Ableton Live . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288
Propellerhead Reason . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
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10 Planning for the Future 291
Radio DJ Career Paths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
Club/Bar DJ Career Paths. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
Mobile DJ Career Paths. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292
Where Are They Now? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292
DJ Burnout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
The Future of the Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294
Index 295
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Introduction
Everyone always asked me if it mattered.
“Does what you say to the crowd matter?” “Does it matter if you can beatmix well?” “Do my scratching skills
matter?” “Do the games you play at private affairs or the promotions you do at clubs matter?” And the number
one “matter” question: “Does the music really matter?”
Typically, if you’re a bedroom DJ, nothing really matters, although it’s more fun to play songs you like rather than
music that systematically fits into the technical aspects of what you’re trying to do. If you’re a radio DJ, the music
doesn’t really matter, because you won’t be choosing it, and you won’t have a clue how your audience responds to
it anyway. If you’re a nightclub DJ, it absolutely matters, but only early in the night before people have had enough
alcohol or drugs to forget the difference. And if you’re a mobile private party DJ, it depends on the crowd, and
your answer will always be different. Some crowds would respond to you banging two sticks together on the
microphone, and others wouldn’t dance if you held a large cannon to their butts with a shaky trigger finger.
For more than fifteen years of my life, I worked as a radio, club and mobile DJ. I went to bed at about 4 AM and
slept until 10 AM most mornings (when not working a day job for insurance benefits). I lost touch with most of my
high school friends because I was working while they were out partying.
There is one good point, now that I look back[el] I missed the entire

Cosby
show.
But I was having fun. I was earning money doing what I loved to do[em]writing and playing music. And I got to do
many things most people would never dream of doing, including but not limited to acting as a pseudo-psychiatrist,
relationship counselor, bouncer, director of marketing, bartender, maitre’d, camp counselor, concierge, deal
broker, buyer, sales rep, sound and lighting engineer, national act producer, PC repair technician, video producer,
gigolo, and other things I simply can’t remember at this point.
I was building a career that would ultimately include feature magazine articles, radio commercials all over the
world, a stint with a local rock band, and ultimately the creation of this book. We all make sacrifices in life, and
I’d do it all over again, the same exact way.
So now you’re thinking about becoming a DJ. Maybe you’re already a DJ looking to advance to the next level.
Or maybe you’ve been DJing in your bedroom and decided it’s time to start making some money at this madness.
The first question you must answer, as honestly as humanly possible, is which kind of DJ you truly want to be.
The second question, that’s much more important if you’re interested in a career as a DJ, is which you’d be best at.
It’s pretty common to see a DJ on MTV, in TV commercials, or in music videos doing all kinds of crazy things with
records in front of an audience of screaming fans. And virtually every private affair now has a DJ rather than a
live band. DJs are everywhere today. I have to admit…it’s hard to believe that all these people get paid for talking,
playing music and having fun! Now you can too. This book will help demystify the three different types of Disc
Jockey jobs and help you fulfill your DJ dreams.
As I wandered the halls of my corporate day jobs, bleary and bloodshot eyes giving away the fact that I had a
hangover and was up until at least 4 AM the night before, yet still managing to force a friendly smile, people
always asked me about my “other” life as a DJ. Some of the more popular questions were, “Is it fun?” “Do you
make good money?” “Do you get a lot of chicks?”
Yes, I guess, and oh, yeah! The first thing I tell folks is that it can be a huge pain in the butt to break in to this
business. But once you do, you’re officially involved in the multi-billion dollar entertainment industry. If you’ve
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got a few spare bucks for equipment and music, a lot of time to practice, and if you’re dedicated and you have
the know-how, you too can make a comfortable living at this nonsense. Yes, you can have fun while getting paid
playing music for a living. And for whatever reason, chicks seem to love DJs.

Contrary to what some egocentric New York DJs will tell you, you don’t need a ton of raw talent to be a successful
DJ. You don’t need to know music theory; how to play an instrument; how to sing or how to dance. You don’t have
to be born with special DNA. Many basic DJ skills can be learned from the information and diagrams in this book.
You can watch and listen to those considered “successful” in their part of the DJ business for other skills. About 95
percent of this job consists of purely mechanical actions and good judgment calls, and the rest is schmoozing to get
ahead. This book will teach you everything you’ll need to be successful in all three of the main DJ fields.
It’s been my personal experience that about three out of five existing “professional” DJs, in all three DJ fields, are
immature, insecure, irresponsible idiots. They’re lazy, inconsistent, and often dangerously unpredictable. I used to
think it was a Northeast thing, but it’s much wider than that, spanning the entire nation. Maybe it’s the insecurity
of the industry as a whole that forces DJs to act this way, I’m not sure. There are more backstabbing people in
this field than any other field I’ve ever seen, surprisingly including Corporate America! Of the thousands of DJs
I met early in my career, only three offered to help me learn my craft. Almost everyone is in it for themselves,
and it’s pretty rare to find someone who’s willing to give you a hand and teach you what you need to know.
Hopefully, you’ll sway the odds and help repair this crazy industry.
Starting out in the DJ business can cost you about three to several thousand dollars in music and equipment, most of
which will be wasted if you’re not careful. Don’t make the same mistakes the rest of us made. Depending on which
type of DJ you choose to be, your music, equipment, and accessory needs will vary widely. You might also need tons
of music, much of which you won’t like (unless you actually like “The Chicken Dance”). If you’re just into it for the
glamour (or to make mixtapes for your friends from your bedroom), you’ve chosen a fun but expensive hobby.
No matter which DJ direction you choose, you’ll need to invest lots of time figuring out the intricacies of your
equipment as well as learning your music inside and out. Your number one priorities will be practicing with your
equipment and performance, and researching new trends, music, and promotions. If you think being a DJ is just
showing up at 9 PM and leaving at 2, you’re in for a rude awakening! Radio DJs spend hours on something called
“Show Prep.” Nightclub and bar DJs must always be at the forefront of new music, so they’ll spend hours listening,
evaluating, and learning new songs. Mobile DJs spend several hours in the sales process, and then even more
hours organizing events directly with their clients. Bad DJs don’t spend nearly enough time in preparation, and
it shows in their sloppy work. These bad DJs will be your first targets when looking for a job.
This book investigates the radio, club and bar, and mobile DJ fields. We’ll show you what you need to do to get
started and how to be successful at each. We’ll explain the major advantages and disadvantages of each individual
field. We’ll cover Group Dynamics, contests and promotions, music, equipment, terminology, sneaky tricks, and so

much more. Based on this information, you should be able to decide which field will be best for you and have a
running head start over most of the other knuckleheads all competing for the same job.
Unlike most other DJ books, my goal is to get you out of your bedroom and into the real DJ world. I’ve shared
years of not only my own personal experiences, but those of other successful DJs from various DJ fields. If you
read thoroughly, pay attention to the world around you, work hard, and do a bit more than is expected of you,
you too can have a great career as a professional DJ.
So do all those aforementioned things matter?
Well, yes, and no. I never had a perfect answer for that question. You’ll have to figure out the right answer for
your situation yourself. And that’s what makes it fun….
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1
BECOMING A RADIO DJ
I had dreamed about becoming a radio DJ since I was about ten years old. I used to make tapes in my
bedroom with an old record player and a cassette tape recorder my grandfather gave me. I had a few
records my parents bought at a garage sale and I’d play them over and over again, announcing the name
and artist along with today’s weather and news. I’d listen to DJs on the local radio stations and tried to
copy their styles with my pre-pubescent voice. I have no idea where those tapes are but I’d bet they’re
hilariously terrible.
I got my first “real” radio gig at Temple University’s college radio station in Ambler, Pennsylvania. It was
a tiny, 5-Watt signal that barely reached to the end of the campus, but always blared loudly in the student
dorms and cafeteria. I worked the weekend shifts, so I got to bring my own music and say whatever I
wanted. Some of the skits my friends and I did on that station would make Howard Stern look tame by
comparison!
I did that for a semester or two and got tired of it. I later joined Temple’s “real” FM radio station, WRTI
in Philadelphia, as a reporter for a program called “Lifestyles.” I did a few reports on campus events and
activities, and decided then I didn’t want to be a reporter. Music was much more fun for me. Since WRTI
was an all-jazz station then, I packed up my headphones and tried not to let the door hit me where the
good Lord split me.
A few years later, I got the radio bug again, and managed to find a gig at a community radio station while

doing nights as a nightclub DJ. I did Friday mornings from 7 until noon, playing a preset list of Top 40 and
soft rock songs on “carts” (tapes that look like an old eight-track tape, if you’ve ever seen one of those).
I was always half asleep because I worked a big club on Thursday nights until 2AM then partied until
3 or 4AM. I recorded pretty poor demo tapes and shotgunned them out to everyone I could. Good thing
most unsolicited demo tapes go directly into the trash.
While working at a big nightclub in New Jersey with several radio personalities, I finally got a break.
I filled in part-time on a small commercial station in Trenton, New Jersey as a co-host on a show that
played “Post Modern” music (alternative rock). When I finally got a part-time job offer at that station,
they told me I’d have to give up my nightclub gigs because they were a “conflict of interest.” Since I was
already in my mid-twenties, married with a baby, and making five times more cash at the nightclubs,
I had to turn down the radio gig. There was my dream, right in front of me, but the timing was all wrong.
Easy come, easy go.
So that’s my radio story. But if you’re single and carefree, and you dig traveling all over the country while
living on microwaved foods, there’s nothing like the rush you’ll feel when you meet adoring fans who tell
you they never miss your show.
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My advice to someone entering the radio field is to make sure this is exactly what you want to do for a
living, and make sure you’re young enough before all the “adult” problems (bills, mortgage, kids, etc) take
over. Forget new cars and fancy clothes—prepare to live in almost poverty level conditions indefinitely.
Don’t count on having a single circle of lifetime friends, because you’ll probably have to start in a tiny
market where no one would ever want to live, and you’ll have to move all over the country at the drop
of a hat to take on better opportunities. Leave your ego at home because you will get fired and laid off
frequently. But if it’s truly what you have your heart set on, go all out and do whatever you need to do to
break in. Spend all the time, effort, and money you can into producing a killer demo tape, which I’ll
cover later in this chapter. Eventually, someone will open the door for you and you, too, will get an
opportunity of a lifetime.
This section offers a brief analysis on the radio business, your options, and an introduction to basic radio
terminology. For a much more in-depth description of the business, great tips on how to land your first
on-air job and a great success story, definitely get your hands on a copy of Mike Staff’s

How To Become A
Radio DJ
(available at www.djbook.com)—it’s mandatory reading if you’re dead serious about a job in the
radio industry. Mike’s book even comes with a sample demo tape that he used to get his radio job, so you
know it works.
What’s Involved
For the most part, being a typical radio jock can be the most rewarding DJ job, due to the local fame it
may produce for you. All you have to do is play the music some program or music director has already
chosen for you and make some announcements that are already written for you. Once in a while, you
might even get to “ad lib” (say something funny or entirely original that you came up with) to show
people that you actually have a personality… but don’t count on it.
A successful radio DJ does much more than play preselected music and make prefabricated
announcements. The successful DJ must be quick-witted, innovative, and a visionary with plenty of
patience and a very tough skin, because equipment does fail and strange situations call for quick and
smart fixes. Many DJs will choose to specialize in a specific musical genre. They have their own personal
and consistent approach or “shtick.”
Most successful DJs have built a reputation of being totally obnoxious and/or very respected in the
industry, and because of this, they are allowed much more leeway than the typical radio DJ. These people
are constantly preparing for their next show. They’re always thinking about things they can do or say on
the air that will keep listeners tuned in day in and day out. They have professional production teams that
help them get great guests and promote wild contests. Unfortunately, it usually takes years of experience
and frustration to get to this level. Many successful DJs have been fired several times for pushing the
envelope only to be recognized and rewarded years later for their successful intuition. For a good true-
life story, read
Private Parts
by Howard Stern, or rent the movie of the same name.
Since the norm for radio DJs is only one person on the air at any given time, this job can get lonely,
especially when you’re starting out on overnight or weekend shifts when the daytime office staff is gone.
You won’t get the interaction or immediate feedback you’ll get at clubs or private affairs, so you’ll never
really know if your audience is digging your show. If you’re lucky and you land a job that’s not at some

small town all-news station, the station may send you out to host nightclub contests and events,
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broadcast live from concerts and special events, and maybe even interview singers and bands. That’s
when this job gets really cool (and profitable).
You’ll have to learn how to use some pretty complex computer equipment, and you’ll need to know how
to use it well. Fortunately, most radio stations are computerized, which takes a lot of the manual labor
away from this job. In the old days, I had to locate music “carts,” which would or would not be where
they were supposed to be (depending on how nice the prior DJ was), fill in program logs by hand, locate
the commercials and public service announcements, and be in two places at once as I tried to run from
one side of the studio to the other side to hit the two switches I needed to hit for an Emergency Broadcast
Service test. Some gymnasts would have envied that feat!
You still may have to do two or three things simultaneously, such as pre-record your next segment,
record a telephone call, and adjust the volume, but it’s much easier today with the computer automation
offered by modern on-air systems. But it’s still not foolproof. You will make mistakes. And when you
screw something up, thousands of people will hear it. Fortunately, they can’t see you sweat.
Since the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulates radio stations, there are many more rules
in this DJ discipline than in any of the others. Although some radio programs seem to get away with
murder, it’s usually not exactly as wild as it may seem sometimes. Most of what goes on in radio is
pre-scripted and well within established decency limits. You’ve got to be careful what you say and do
over public-access airways, or you could be fired, fined, or even sued. Most of the shock radio programs
are still feeling the shockwaves generated by the new censorship microscope generated as a result of
Janet Jackson’s Super Bowl incident. The FCC does not monitor every single radio broadcast because they
simply do not have the budget or manpower to do this. FCC disciplinary actions are largely the result
of a formal complaint filed by some lone loser who has nothing better to do than listen to radio hosts
they hate.
The Challenges of Radio
Unfortunately, a paid shift on your local commercial radio station is usually the hardest DJ job to get.
More and more radio stations are finding it cheaper to buy nationally syndicated shows rather than

produce their own, so opportunities for radio DJs could shrink in the coming decade. Due to relaxed
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) station ownership rules, many radio stations are now part
of multi-station corporate conglomerates. These big radio conglomerates are usually publicly traded
companies who are overly worried about enhancing shareholder value and not angering their sponsors
in an effort to maximize stock prices. These conglomerates have begun to consolidate operations and
the overall creativity of radio is waning. The local aspect of radio broadcasting is also beginning to
disappear.
Radio is in the process of evolving to survive. With the advent of CD writers, multiple CD changers, and
portable MP3 players, more and more people are tuning out the radio and tuning in their own favorite
programming. You could say that folks are becoming their own DJs. But radio won’t go down without a
fight. Multi-million dollar consulting firms are working their butts off trying to find new ways to keep you
tuned to that commercial-laden FM dial. And that’s a good thing if you’ve got your sights set on radio.
The major downside to this career is that this is the least stable of all DJ jobs, since low ratings can force
stations to make seemingly random format changes and get rid of DJs overnight. You then may have to
move all over the country before you can get a job in your home market several years down the road.
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What’s Involved
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You’ll usually have to start in a tiny market somewhere in the boonies making minimum wage or less.
Average small market pay is in the neighborhood of $15,000-30,000 a year. Some mobile DJs can make
this in a few months! Early in your radio career, plan to live at poverty level, get familiar with the
unemployment line, and know where your local bus station is.
If you’re lucky enough to graduate to a mid- to large-size market, you could earn as much as $50,000 to
$100,000 a year depending on your shift, your popularity, and the situation. The radio DJs that get to do
private appearances on behalf of the radio station (which is where your real money is made) usually earn
about $100-$150 an hour for a two-hour appearance. This can add up to some big comfortable bucks
quickly.
Radio shifts are also becoming more and more scarce. Why? Simple supply and demand. There are only a
certain amount of commercial FM radio station frequencies available and they’re quickly being bought by

large media conglomerates that are consolidating resources to maximize profits. This means that the
supply of radio shifts is shrinking while the demand for radio jobs is increasing. Most people I know who
were in radio have moved on to something more lucrative like sales, audio production, and a wide array
of other things. They’ve grown older and their responsibilities and obligations have grown more complex,
usually requiring more money than most radio jocks earn.
Don’t let this discourage you—there will always be opportunities in radio for the next big morning DJ who
can drum up more ratings than the last person. If you’re up to the challenge, you can learn how to
become a radio DJ and chase down this dream.
Skills Needed
In the old days, you had to have a strong booming “God-like” voice to be in radio. You’ve probably
noticed by listening to your local station that you don’t need a deep voice to be in radio these days.
There are some pretty wimpy sounding dudes on the air, even in major markets! Years ago, due to
limitations of radio broadcasting technology, only folks who were deep voiced and very well enunciated
were hired as broadcasters. That’s why when you hear old radio broadcast recordings, the announcers
sounded so fake or “over the top”—they were trying to be heard! Today, most radio stations use
electronic processing equipment to compensate for those wimpy voices, so you don’t really need a
radio voice. What you will need, however, is a radio “delivery.” This is a combination of a very
positive-sounding personality, emphasis on the right words, and non-mumbling enunciation.
Don’t worry—these skills can be learned, and easily faked if necessary. No one is in a great mood and has
a “smile in their voice” twenty-four hours a day. All you have to do is listen to your local broadcasters
closely and attentively, and you’ll notice they all have something in common—that radio delivery! Record
your favorite stations on a tape or CD, and fast forward to the breaks where the DJ speaks. Listen to the
breaks and the DJ’s delivery carefully. Then practice repeating their words in your own voice, but
enunciate the words exactly like they do. It’ll seem really strange at first, but you’ll get used to it, and
before you know it, you too will be ordering Mc Donald’s drive-thru with your new radio delivery.
Being extremely organized and synchronized is critical to a radio station’s operation. Songs must fill a
certain span of time and commercials have to be aired at specific times. Although it’s becoming very rare,
some DJs must field phone calls and requests from interested listeners to develop a loyal audience. There
are also legal obligations you must fulfill, like hourly station identifications. Radio disc jockeys must be
able to coordinate both time and audience constraints while on the air.

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Fortunately, computerized on-air systems take care of most of these things for you. Computers can speed
up or slow down music without changing the overall “pitch” of the music, making these changes virtually
unnoticeable. It’s now possible to program music and commercials to the exact second. All you’ll have to
do is make sure your announcements fit neatly into the prescribed times of the breaks, and that’s the
tough part that comes with practice and experience. Usually, an experienced program or promotions
director will write the announcements for you, so they’ll know almost exactly how long it should take
to read that particular announcement. But I still hear DJs mess this up because they’re too quick or
too slow.
You’ll need to be quick on your feet, always ready to cover those inevitable mistakes, or to create fun
radio on a whim. I remember an incident where a record started to skip while it was playing on the air.
I didn’t have another song queued up, so I jumped on the microphone and made up this a short freestyle
rap while I queued up another record. I called my little performance the “Busta Nut Remix” during the
next break. This type of quickness comes naturally to some people, but can be learned through your
experience and listening to the experiences of others in the business.
There are no schools or videos or books that can realistically introduce you to everything you’ll need to
know to become a successful DJ. What you really need to do is get your basic experience for a couple of
years in a real radio station, wherever you can get it, and then move up to a station that’s willing to
promote you. For true radio success, you’ll need a winning idea or concept, and a program director or
station manager who believes in you and who’s not afraid to take chances in order to improve the station’s
ratings. You need to be a key factor in increasing station ratings. These positions are the most coveted
positions in radio, so you’ll have to develop patience as you search for your perfect gig and prepare
to pounce.
The Ratings
All radio stations live or die by the Arbitron Radio Market Ratings Survey. If ratings are up, the station
can charge more for its advertising and everyone is happy. If ratings fall, heads start to roll. And the
finger pointing usually is directed at the low man on the totem pole: you, Mr. or Ms. DJ. Somehow, it’s
your fault that people aren’t listening as much as they used to. It doesn’t matter that management tells

you exactly what to play and say, it’s still somehow always the DJ that gets the boot first.
You should have some knowledge of how the rating system works. Basically, it’s all simple statistics.
Several million randomly chosen people are contacted and paid by the ratings service to complete a
seven-day “Radio Diary” for a certain period of time, which is a detailed list of every single station that
person listened to, including start and stop times, and listening locations (home, work, car, etc.). Several
pieces of comparative demographic information are also collected in the diary, such as age, gender,
employment status, socioeconomic data, ethnicity, etc. All this information is then compiled and
calculated using complex statistical formulas to develop an estimation of the total number of people
listening to a particular station at a particular time. Reports are generated showing breakdowns by age,
gender, time of day (“Daypart”), and stations listened to. These quarterly reports are collectively known
as “The Ratings.”
Radio stations review the overall “Rating” (the percent of all listeners in the radio station’s broadcast
area listening to the station during a certain time period) and the overall “Share” (the percent of one
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station’s total estimated listening audience). These numbers are broken down further into “AQH” or
“Average Quarter Hour” Persons, Ratings, and Shares, and “Cume” Persons and Ratings. These ratings are
broken down even further by age, gender, and other demographic and psychographic details. If you’re
interested, these measurements are described in detail on Arbitron’s Web site (www.arbitron.com).
Statistically speaking, one survey (person) may count for as many as several thousand people’s listening
habits. Some baggy pants hip-hop bling-bling knucklehead down the street from you just might be
influencing your favorite classical radio station to change formats! Fortunately, the “law of large
numbers” tames silly blips like this and the whole survey comes out relatively accurate (within a certain
slim “margin of error”) when all the surveys have been compiled.
People or relatives of people who are employed by media or marketing agencies are asked to exclude
themselves from the surveys, because they could obviously skew the results in a manner that might make
their employer look more favorable.
Types of Radio Jobs

There are quite a few types of on-air radio DJ positions including music DJs, talk show DJs, sports
announcers, sports reporters, traffic reporters, news announcers, and news reporters. Additionally, there
are tons of support jobs, such as producers, engineers, sales representatives, program directors, music
directors, promotions and marketing people, event DJs, and other fun jobs that radio stations need to be
successful.
Music DJs
The most visible radio job is obviously the music DJ, the average DJ heard on various music formats all
over your AM and FM dials. They occasionally mention promotional station announcements during music-
based programs. This particular DJ job requires the least amount of thought and planning, since most of
your announcements are written for you, and all the music you’ll play was most likely picked a week or
two in advance. Most music radio DJs are little more than glorified mixing board operators (known as
“board ops”).
This is also the most profitable type of DJ, since these are the folks who get tapped to broadcast special
events live on the radio, affording you tons of public exposure along with a healthy paycheck that’s in
addition to your normal radio pay. These special events will command an hourly fee that’s probably five
times what your normal hourly fee will be; and this is how successful radio DJs earn most of their money.
You’ll be expected to show up about an hour before your shift starts, primarily so the prior DJ and your
boss know you’re there. You’ll sit around and twiddle your thumbs and drink lots of soda or coffee and
make nice nice with the receptionist if it’s during office hours, since a music DJ doesn’t really have much
in the way of show preparation. About three to five minutes before your shift begins, the prior DJ will
step out from behind the console, pack his or her stuff up, and let you know you’re up after this song or
set. Since things are usually automated, this could occur ten to fifteen minutes prior to the end of the
other DJ’s show. If you’re following someone who’s voice tracking (pre-recording a local radio show from
another location so that it sounds like it’s a genuine local broadcast) or a remote syndicated broadcast
(a pre-recorded show that runs nationally), you’ll sit in even earlier. Hopefully, you’ll enjoy the show.
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You’ll plug your headphones into the board, and your shift begins. You’ll take a look at the program log
on the computer, and you’ll know exactly what songs are coming up, and when you’ll be expected to

break in with banter, promotional announcements, news, weather, or sports. Typically, most daytime
music DJ shifts run four hours, but can run five or six hours during weekends or overnights.
“Drive time” DJs, the DJs who host shows during the AM and PM before and after work hours while
people are driving to or from work, tend to be the most popular DJs at the station. Typically, they’re
given much more freedom than the other on-air personalities on the station. They may get to host
contests, skits, “phony phone calls,” and even ad lib here and there. These shifts require much more
preparation time, but the pay and recognition can be exponentially more than a typical DJ receives.
Talk Show DJs
Talk shows are the most difficult DJ job. You don’t have the crutch of music to lean on—you are the
entertainment! Talk shows require several hours of preparation. You’ll need to thoroughly research your
topics so you know exactly what you’re talking about. It’s impossible to be captivating if you don’t know
which facets of your topic are interesting and worthy of discussion. You’ll need to track down guests and
arrange their participation, hopefully scheduling them down to the exact minute you need them. You’ll
need to figure out the full flow of your show, and then guide it along that flow, carefully tailoring all
digressions back to the main subject matter. Most prominent talk-show DJs, like Howard Stern or Rush
Limbaugh, have entire staffs dedicated to show preparation.
You’ll need to arrive at the station very early, hours before your shift, so you can fine tune today’s topics.
You’ll verify that guests have arrived, and any experts scheduled to telephone in aren’t caught up in their
busy schedules and haven’t forgotten about you.
When you go on, you’ll do a monologue presenting your topic, citing your research and findings along
with your personal opinions about the topic, hoping to generate interest and telephone calls from people
who wholeheartedly agree with your opinions and fiercely oppose your point of view. You must remain
fair at all times, always offering and encouraging both sides of every story. You’ll usually have the
assistance of an engineer or screener who’ll try to get the gist of what people who have called in before
you actually talk to them, so you’re somewhat prepared to handle them live on the air. Normally, your
show will have a digital delay of several seconds just in case some knucklehead spouts off certain four
letter words or other fun things that’s better suited for a bar and could get you and the radio station
in trouble.
Whether your topic is sports, relationships, politics, current events, the occult, or whatever, your talk
show will ebb and flow, going through parts that are less interesting than others. It’s your job to keep

things on course, providing compelling points of view and humor where applicable. Bring lots of bottled
water to avoid dry mouth.
Sports Announcers
Sports Announcers are folks that live, eat, and breathe sports. They know every player on every pro and
college team in every sport. They can tell you how many points someone scored during a certain game
two years ago, and can recite someone’s most recent batting average. Sportscasters have a mind for
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numbers and statistics and an incredible memory. What a great job for a sports fan—getting paid to talk
about the love of your life! These jobs are tough to come by. Most folks hone their skills by announcing
play by plays for high schools, small college, or community teams.
A sports announcer usually gets a seat at an event in a special area designated for “the press,” usually
known as the “press box.” This area usually has a perfect view of the entire playing field so he or she can
comment on every play. Sports announcers are expected to show up early before a game, and hopefully
score some interviews with key players, coaches, or managers that can provide some “color” before,
during, and after the game. The announcer typically does the “play by play” announcing, following the
plays and describing them as clearly as possible, keeping in mind that his or her audience cannot see
what’s actually taking place. Sports announcers paint a picture of the event in progress.
In most professional sports broadcasts, a second announcer is employed, known as “color” announcers.
Color announcers are the folks that add a little extra spice to sporting broadcasts in between plays or
when the play starts to lull. For example, color announcers like John Madden in football and Tim
McCarver in baseball are the guys who provide the interesting and often surprising little tidbits of
information that make most sportscasts entertaining. They’ve usually got a license to use a sense of
humor and have some fun with the broadcast.
Sports Reporters
Sports Reporters are the less glorious version of the Sports Announcer, since they may not get to attend
the games. Typically, sports reporters have a few short minutes to summarize the highlights of several
games in several sports, sliding in a few sound bites here and there if they’re lucky. Sports (and news)

casters can get a lot of up to the minute information over the wire (specialized subscription-based news
feeds available at many radio stations) and the Internet.
Traffic Reporters
While some TV traffic reporters might get to fly in helicopters reporting on traffic problems first hand,
most radio traffic reporters usually work for a commercial traffic reporting service. They are typically
confined to a cozy desk as they call in their traffic reports while someone else discovers where the
problems spots are. Since traffic reports are generally given during AM and PM “Drive Times” (the most
listened to dayparts, since people are stuck in their cars during their commute), and since DJs during
these shifts have a bit more latitude to ad lib, you may actually get a chance to participate in some clever
unscripted on-air banter.
Some say being a traffic reporter is a great way to begin a career as a radio DJ. While it is a way to get
on-air experience and get your name noticed, you won’t learn the board operation skills or typical radio
station political skills you’ll need to survive. And your voice always sounds very different over the
telephone, so people won’t readily recognize your true radio voice. If you’ve got your sights set on an
on-air position, becoming a traffic reporter is no more than a toe in the door and a job to hold you over
until you get a real radio break.
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